Breaking News Ben Gordon has been traded to Charlotte for Corey Maggette

Props to Joe for unloading the 2nd worst contract in the league (slightly behind 'Shard Lewis @ #1).
To me, this trade has absolutely nothing to do with the two players involved. This was all about un-doing a bad mistake. The mistake still lingers until Maggette is either moved or he leaves in free agency.

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Yep

As for the draft pick that we had to send MJ to get him to take Gordon off our hands, it's fully lottery protected for next year, top-8 protected for Year 2, top-1 protected for Year 3 and unprotected in Year 4.
Basically, what this means is that Charlotte will get a pick somewhere in the teens in 2 years. The Pistons WILL be in the lottery next season. The following season, they should make the playoffs as a 6th-8th seed and that's the pick that the Bobcraps will get.

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Many variables here, but remember, this is not a deep team upfront and the guards run the show. Any injuries to the latter, and they will be right back in the lottery. JD needs to hit on all three draft picks and they best know how to score.

Someone earlier mentioned that the feel bad for Ben Gordon due to the fact that he's going to the worst team in the NBA.
I don't feel bad for Ben Gordon one freaking bit. He did NOTHING to earn his money in Detroit. He cheated Joe, his coaches and us fans during his time with the Pistons. Yes, he was put in a bad situation and I give him props for remaining professional and not being a complainer. - But the dude just didn't take it upon himself to do what it took to get the job done. He didn't pull his weight. He coasted. ...Damn glad to see him gone!

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He wasted his years here and he didn't have the personality to handle the shifting priorities that happened on a monthly basis. He will do much better in Charlotte.

Now Joe can fork over some cash for the good old amnesty for Charlie Villanueva and maybe we can NOW begin to rebuild this team.

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Yep. JD is getting some help now, in many aspects throughout the organization.

When you amnesty a player, you still pay him whatever he is due minus the top bidder. I don't see anyone lining up to be able to snatch away CV. If we amnesty, we'll have to pay a substantial amount of his contract to him. Because we're not going anywhere again this year, it's better to hang on to him and use him as trade asset (as in expiring contract) for now. If all of a sudden we make the playoffs this year, we can amnesty him next summer to go after a FA.

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This seems logical. Sometimes you need to clear the board in order to see what is in front of you. Flexibility means JD can maneuver, which is his greatest strength. Also, his rope has been shortened which I thing is good for everyone.

The first step to recovery is acknowledging you have a problem. Signing Ben Gordon was so bad, it cost the franchise money, flexibility, opportunity and now it costs the future. At the same time, he didn't fit here and something had to be done. First we got him and didn't get rid of Rip so that didn't work out. Then when he did play, it just exposed his need for a facilitator - one we didn't have. As he kept passing to Big Ben as the shot clock wound down or dribbled off his foot or stepped out of bounds or - insert random unforced turnover here - he became one of the worst key guys to any team ever.

BG and CV were terrible investments - the kind that gets guys fired. I supported these at the time. But fundamentally, this franchise find success when, from top to bottom, it aligns itself with its core values: defense, teamwork and toughness. Hiring Flip was a step away from this so the talent floundered...and we had serious talent. Then we added players who were the antithesis of these values - AI (teamwork), BG (defense), CV (all of them). Its no wonder the Pistons were the laughing stock of the league, the front office acted like Minnesota and started collecting players that would be at home with the Clippers or the Bobcats. It hired a coaching staff that did not fit the mould of the core values. The tragedy of it all is we never got a top 5 pick out of all that.

Finally, we have Lawrence Frank who sacrificed the first half of the season to work on defense. We have talent that fans can be proud to call Pistons (even if they doubt Knight's passing ability). As the team moves on, I hope Joe figures out WHY BG and CV never worked out here and doesn't repeat it

Unless Gores decides to green light the amnesty-ing of Charles Garbage, we'll be stuck with that guy until the day his contract expires. I don't think that there is a GM in the league who hasn't read the Dominican Republic story so it's going to be tough to find a trade partner for him, - even if it's just for his expiring contract when the time comes.

The way I see it, Charlie should have already played his last game as a Piston. He should never again bother to dress for a game. Given that fact, we might as well use the amnesty clause on him. If another team decides to pay him a million or two to be a part of their roster, that's money that we don't have to pay him. (I don't see this happening but at least there's a chance)

What I DON'T want to see happen is for the Pistons to invest any more time in Charlie Villanueva. I don't want to read a story in September about Charlie's boxing training this summer and about how he showed up to camp in the best shape of his life. We need to cut bait and run. I don't want Arnie spending any time working with him; I don't even want the ball-boys rebounding for the guy at the Piston practice facility.

If the Pistons bought out Corey Maggette and used the amnesty clause on Chuck-G, Gores would be shelling out a little over $25 million dollars next year for Rip Hamilton, Charlie Villanueva and Corey Maggette to NOT play in Detroit.

Hi there everybody. I continued to follow the pistons quietly and faithfully, however, I vowed not to post until Joe Dumars makes a trade with somebody. FINALLY, the curse has been broken. How long has it been 3 years, 5 years? Well truthfully, since my nephew is now in the NBA, I've been out and about, enjoying the NBA scene, boy what a ride. Loved it. Okay, well anyway, I am so happy that we have finally done something as far as acquiring players. I am sooo happy. Let's see where we will go from here. I have a feeling that big things will be happening on draft night. Hey there my peeps Roscoe, LA Dre, Lambs, Slippy, Dumars, Cloud, all the rest of my people and even Capp Spayce, lol. What's up Motown.

If the Pistons bought out Corey Maggette and used the amnesty clause on Chuck-G, Gores would be shelling out a little over $25 million dollars next year for Rip Hamilton, Charlie Villanueva and Corey Maggette to NOT play in Detroit.

Hi there everybody. I continued to follow the pistons quietly and faithfully, however, I vowed not to post until Joe Dumars makes a trade with somebody. FINALLY, the curse has been broken. How long has it been 3 years, 5 years? Well truthfully, since my nephew is now in the NBA, I've been out and about, enjoying the NBA scene, boy what a ride. Loved it. Okay, well anyway, I am so happy that we have finally done something as far as acquiring players. I am sooo happy. Let's see where we will go from here. I have a feeling that big things will be happening on draft night. Hey there my peeps Roscoe, LA Dre, Lambs, Slippy, Dumars, Cloud, all the rest of my people and even Capp Spayce, lol. What's up Motown.

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Hey Army..long time no hear.....who is your nephew again....I want to follow him too, since any family of yours is family to all of us..

The more I ponder this trade, the more I feel like this was a precursor to another deal or two. Might be wishful thinking, but like AG, I am quite happy Joe's back to being aggressive in his trades after over 1000! days with no activity on that front. Trade season is in full swing as well, with teams looking to move up/into/down all across the board.

The more I think about it the more I just can't support trading away a prime 1st round pick just to dump a player with 2 years left on his contract. Great that he is finally making trades again but we may end up really regretting this one.

Unless Gores decides to green light the amnesty-ing of Charles Garbage, we'll be stuck with that guy until the day his contract expires. I don't think that there is a GM in the league who hasn't read the Dominican Republic story so it's going to be tough to find a trade partner for him, - even if it's just for his expiring contract when the time comes.

The way I see it, Charlie should have already played his last game as a Piston. He should never again bother to dress for a game. Given that fact, we might as well use the amnesty clause on him. If another team decides to pay him a million or two to be a part of their roster, that's money that we don't have to pay him. (I don't see this happening but at least there's a chance)

What I DON'T want to see happen is for the Pistons to invest any more time in Charlie Villanueva. I don't want to read a story in September about Charlie's boxing training this summer and about how he showed up to camp in the best shape of his life. We need to cut bait and run. I don't want Arnie spending any time working with him; I don't even want the ball-boys rebounding for the guy at the Piston practice facility.

The more I think about it the more I just can't support trading away a prime 1st round pick just to dump a player with 2 years left on his contract. Great that he is finally making trades again but we may end up really regretting this one.

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If we are still in the lottery mix next year I will be very surprised. The year after that? Shocked.

Plus I think we are forgetting about the amount of money we are going to have to pay Monroe for him to stay